Military options against N.Korea effective, overwhelming: Trump

Washington, Sep 16 (IANS) US President Donald Trump and his top national security advisers said there were military options available for dealing with the North Korea crisis which were both “effective and overwhelming”, the media reported.

Speaking at Joint Base Andrews, the Air Force installation outside Washington, Trump on Friday declared that the military options were robust should they be required to respond to threats from Pyongyang, reports CNN.

“After seeing your capabilities and commitment here today, I am more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming,” Trump said inside an airplane hangar, surrounded by US airmen and with a looming stealth bomber positioned behind him.

“America and our allies will never be intimidated… We will defend our people, our nations, and our civilization, from all who dare to threaten our way of life.

This includes the regime of North Korea, which has one again shown its utter contempt for its neighbours, and the entire world community,” Trump added.

Ahead of his remarks, both national security adviser H.R. McMaster and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley stressed during a White House briefing on the UN General Assembly that Trump did have military options to stop North Korea, CNN reported.

Though they were not their top choices for the region, Haley and McMaster said, they were available to the President.

“For those who have said, and been commenting about a lack of a military option, there is a military option… Now it is not what we would prefer to do,” McMaster said.

Trump’s remarks came after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido earlier on Friday, the latest in a stream of missile tests that have looked to defy the international community.

The launch is the second to flyover Japan in less than a month, and the first since North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and new UN sanctions on the country.